"Hot Water" is a single released in 1984 by the English jazz-funk band Level 42. It was released a couple of weeks before the band's studio album True Colours (1984). The single reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart[2] and was a top ten hit in the Netherlands and Norway. The song was produced by Ken Scott.
In 1985, "Hot Water" and another True Colours song, "The Chant Has Begun", were tacked onto the US version of Level 42's breakthrough studio album, World Machine, in place of "I Sleep on My Heart," "Dream Crazy" (which only appeared on the European CD version of the album), and "Coup d'état". "Hot Water" was released as the US follow-up single to the World Machine breakthrough single, "Something About You" in 1986; it peaked at #87.[3]
The B-sides of the 1984 releases featured the title track of the Level 42 album, Standing in the Light (1983), which was their latest studio album when the single was released. This song was produced by Larry Dunn and Verdine White, both members of Earth, Wind & Fire. The Canadian releases of 1985, featured "The Chinese Way", produced by Mike Vernon, and "Kansas City Milkman", produced by Ken Scott, as B-sides. On the 1986 US release "Dream Crazy" was on the B-side, produced by Level 42 and Wally Badarou. The live version that appears on the US 12" release is the same version released on A Physical Presence (1985).